SERDANG, Dec 8 – The Association of Theatre and Group 1 Stage Drama, with the cooperation of the Curriculum and Student Development Centre (PKPP), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), recently organized an oversea mobility programme to Bali, Indonesia, for four days.

Programme Director of Layar Pariwisata, Aditya Hutama, said the programme, with the assistance of Udayana University, Denpasar, Indonesia, was aimed at exposing students to Indonesians’ uniqueness and cultures, in addition to introducing Malaysians’ cultures and traditions to their Indonesian counterparts.

"This program serves as a platform to introduce UPM as the entity for development and leadership of youths in this era of globalization,” he said.

He added that the objective of the program was to promote Malaysians’ cultures and traditions to Indonesians, especially the Balinese, and to highlight the cross-culture specter of knowledge and customs of other nations to UPM students.

UPM Bachelor of Economics student, Nurunnajwa Nor Aripin from the Faculty of Economics and Management, said she was grateful to have been given the opportunity to participate in the program.

“Frankly speaking, in addition to the experience gained from my visits of the country which is very precious and invaluable, it also helps to improve my soft skills in communication and self-leadership,” she said.

Group 1 Facilitator, Ahmad QadryBasri @ Boseri expressed his hope for UPM students to take advantage of the knowledge gained through the mobility programme."This program has been planned for a year and Praise Be to Allah that it was a success due to the cooperation we got from all parties, including the director of the program," he said.

Some of the main activities of the program included the Saraswati Dance performance by University of Udayana students and poetry recitals by their UPM counterparts, besides sharing of knowledge and exchange of views on cultures by representatives from both universities. – UPM.